Dive Brief:
- Six California lawmakers, including Senate President Kevin de Leon, have written to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) to express their concern with merging PacifiCorp's operations with the California ISO to create a regional marketplace, warning the move could potentially cede the state's authority on clean energy and climate protection.
- Owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Energy, PacifiCorp operates in five western states and proponents of the regional grid say merged operations could save more than $9 billion over two decades.
- Sierra Club responded with a statement warning lawmakers to carefully consider the combined grids, saying PacifiCorp has a history of "stifling clean energy innovation and clinging onto carbon polluting coal plants."
Dive Insight:
Bringing PacifiCorp's operations into the California ISO could save up to $9.1 billion, but a half dozen lawmakers have told Gov. Brown they are worried about holding onto control of the state's energy policies and direction.
“The proposed regionalization must not undermine state sovereignty or cede authority of our state’s cutting edge clean energy and climate policies to others who do not have the same strong commitment and legal framework to reduce climate pollution and promote clean energy,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Brown.
Since the November 2014 initiation of the Energy Imbalance Market, a limited market that allows CAISO and PacifiCorp to balance their systems through shared resources, the two grids saw financial benefits in excess of $20 million, reduced the curtailment of renewables, and cut greenhouse gas emissions. But lawmakers, who must approve the combined operations, remain worried about how PacifiCorp's coal resources would impact California's 50% renewables goal.
“Coal power would be disadvantaged,” Bob Gravely, a spokesman for PacifiCorp, told the Los Angeles Times. “This is a way to reduce the use of coal overall and increase use of renewables.”
Sierra Club said the proposal could harm the environment and California Communities. The utilities "has attacked independent renewable energy producers across the West," said Bill Corcoran, Western Regional Campaign Director for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign.
"California legislators should carefully consider whether this company, as it is currently managed, is one we want to partner with," Corcoran said.
In addition to Senate President De Leon, the letter was also signed by House Speaker-elect Anthony Rendon; Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Chair Ben Hueso; Assembly Natural Resources Committee Chair Das Williams; and Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee Chair Mike Gatto.
